NO VISUAL CLUTTER ALLOWED

After city officials complained that the five-color national logo was too colorful for a sign along Pines Boulevard, the party supplies store agreed to use either black and white or black and yellow, the colors of the two other stores that will be listed on the same sign.

Party City is one of three stores planned for the Best Buy Shopping Center on Pines Boulevard at Southwest 114th Avenue. The other two are Best Buy, an appliance chain, and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Each store is allowed two signs, on the outside wall and on a single ground sign along Pines Boulevard. For the ground sign, the city's Planning & Zoning Board had agreed to let Bed, Bath & Beyond use black and white colors. The board also said black and yellow was OK for Best Buy.

But the board opposed Party City's logo for the roadside sign because it would be red, orange, yellow, blue and green. Board members said it would be garish.

With an agreement to tone down the colors, the City Commission on Wednesday approved plans for the project.

Party City will get to have a colorful wall sign. The board said the five colors will be OK there because the building will be set back from Pines Boulevard and won't create visual clutter along the road.

Miramar

Stereos are hot items

Stereos were taken after thieves smashed the windows of two cars while they were parked in the 3300 block of State Road 7, police said.

The vehicles were entered between 7:30 p.m. May 3 and 7 a.m. May 4, police said.

A stereo was also taken from a third car that had been left unlocked, police said.

A side view mirror was found broken on a fourth vehicle that was parked along the same stretch of street, police said.

Davie

Billboards must improve

The Town Council wants to have the ability to order the removal of billboards that are deemed to be unsightly.

The council recently asked Town Attorney Barry Webber to find out what legal mechanisms there are for getting rid of the roadside advertisements. The council has approved 10 billboards in Davie, but with the annexation of unincorporated neighborhoods, the town has acquired 22 additional boards.

"We want to provide a sunset provision for those boards," Vice Mayor Terry Santini said. "Those are shoddier-looking than the ones we approved."